Page 11 of Only You

“You call a guy who can probably kill someone with two fingers a golden retriever.”

She smiled, and her eyes sparkled. Fuck, she was beautiful.

“So maybe a golden/pit-bull mix.”

“You look nice.”

She tilted her head and studied him for a second. “Do I normally not look nice?”

She had done something with her eyes that made them look more blue than green tonight, and she was wearing dangling earrings. She usually wore studs.

“No, you always look nice. You just look different.”

He opened his mouth to say something else, but they were interrupted by his sister and Wendy.

“Eileen, I’m so happy you could make it,” Kaitlin said. She hugged Kaitlin, then Wendy.

“Thank you for the invite. Nice to get out on a Saturday night.”

“Come on over, I need you to meet someone.”

His sister was already tugging her away. “I guess I’ll catch you later.”

He watched as she went with his sister and Wendy. She towered over them both, and that’s when he looked down at her legs. Jesus, she was wearing thigh-high boots with heels. She was trying to kill him.

“So, Eileen brought a date,” Emmett said, stepping beside him.

“He looks like military, huh? Not a cop.” This came from Seamus, another idiot brother. “What will you do when she gets married and moves away? Gonna stalk her on her social media still?”

Fuck, he didn’t need to deal with them tonight. “That’s her cousin, and he lives in California, which probably frowns on first cousins marrying.” And he didn’t stalk her on social media because she had none.

“Hmm, but you wanted to kick his ass. That was easy to see,” Emmett says.

If he responded, it would end up in a fight. He would not punch either of his brothers at his parents’ anniversary party.

So, pushing aside his anger, he said, “Get bent.”

Then headed off to check things in the kitchen. He wanted to ensure he was back out there before the dancing started because he was determined to get Eileen in his arms.

Two hours into the party,Eileen was stuffed. She hadn’t meant to eat like she’d been stuck on a desert island for three years, but when it was Declan’s recipes, she couldn’t resist.

“Your chef wanted to beat me up,” Rowan said.

“He’s not mine.”

He snorted. “Believe me, cuz, that guy wants you to be his. He wanted to pull off my arms and beat me with them.”

She rolled her eyes.

“He’s never been in the military?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Went to culinary school when he was eighteen.”

“Weird because with his build and awareness…he makes me think of the military.”

“Yeah,” she said. She knew what Rowan meant. Declan was the biggest of all his brothers, but there was grace in how he moved. She watched as he threw back his head and laughed. God, he was so damned sexy.

“No calls?”

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